


An Ocean of You

by Juiliet



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (too much fluff), Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Anxiety, Architecture major Keith, Comfort, Cuban Lance, Depression, Fluff, Gay Keith, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Hunk (Voltron) Has Two Moms, Hurt, Japanese Shiro, Korean Keith, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, M/M, Marine Biology major Lance, Pansexual Lance, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Racing thoughts, Rivals to Friends to Lovers, Samoan Hunk, Self Harm, Shiro is adopted but Keith is not just a warning kids, Suicidal Thoughts, Trans Ulaz, Turtles, i cant even write a cliche college au without putting in something dramatic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2018-12-22 12:23:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11967318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juiliet/pseuds/Juiliet
Summary: Lance doesn't know how his life could get any better. He's succeeding in college, working at the aquarium he loved as a kid, and has some of the best friends a guy could ever ask for. But when an annoying (and sort of hot) architecture major starts showing up and poking around Lance has no idea just how much trouble he's in.*“Keith?” Allura called from the door. Both the boy and Lance turned to face her as she more or less strutted into the room, somehow making No Slip look like the hottest shoe brand on the market. “Oh! I see you’ve met Lance. Lance is one of our interns. He attends Altea as well, but I believe he’s studying to become a marine biology major, so I’m not sure if you’ve met him before now.”“Can’t say I have had that pleasure before,” Keith muttered and stuck out his hand tentatively.Lance peeled his gloves off and shook it stiffly. “Yeah, I’ve never seen your mullet around campus either, which is odd considering how I’m pretty much everywhere and know everyone.”“Well, congratulations,” Keith replied, voice cool as a could be. “You’ve met somebody you don’t know. Clearly you haven’t been to the honors college."





	1. Dirty Dan

**Author's Note:**

> nyello my name is jules and i've never finished a single story that wasn't a one shot but im starting this one because why the fuck not?  
> in case you're wondering this is loosely based off of my oneshot Aquamarine, but i changed a lot of things from that so uh be careful.  
> you can find me on tumblr @lancetellations  
> i decided to start this fic bc i recently fell out of writing klance and needed something light to get back into it. idrk how long this fic will be, and i don't know if i'll give yall consistent updates either because i SUCK ASS at updating lmao.  
> ulaz is trans and i did research into trans men having kids and i just... wanted to give keith some biological parents for once.

_An unfocused view of a hospital waiting room comes into view showing a boy or about 7 or 8 with dark hair swinging his legs over the edge of a chair. The lobby is lit softly, walls painted a gentle blue with several paintings hung to give a little more to look at._

_“Takashi? Takashi! Over here!” A man calls and the boy-Takashi-looks up to reveal dark gray eyes full of excitement. “Takashi, why don’t you tell everyone what’s going on?”_

_Takashi grins brightly throwing his hands into the air and yells: “Daddy’s having a baby!”_

_The camera man chuckles nervously. “That’s right, but not so loud next time. Remember how we discussed using our inside voice at the hospital?”_

_“Ohhh,” Takashi whispers, growing suddenly serious. “Daddy’s having a baby.”_

_“And what else?”_

_“I’m gonna be a big brother!” Takashi yells again eliciting a sigh from the cameraman, who seems to have given up._

_“Yes Takashi,” He chuckles tiredly, reaching out a hand and pulling the boy out of frame to kiss his head. “You’re going to be a big brother.”_

_“I hope they have purple hair,” Takashi says just before the video ends._

_~_

_The video starts up again in a brightly room, showing a blurry shot of an immaculate hospital room. The curtains of the window are parted slightly showing the darkened starry sky outside and the half inch of october snow that had already covered the ground. A chilly breeze whips by and yanks a few more withering leaves from the trees, sending them spiraling to the ground. Inside, however, the scene is much warmer. A man in a hospital gown and cap is holding a small bundle wrapped in a red blanket. Takashi has crawled up next to him on the bed, peering over to look at his precious cargo._

_“I brought you some water,” The cameraman says brightly, walking towards the bed and extending a hand carrying a little Styrofoam cup of ice water._

_The man in the bed looks up and manages a tired smile as he takes the cup. “Thank you Thace.”_

_“You’re very welcome Ulaz,” Thace replies, leaning into peck Ulaz’s lips. Ulaz let’s out a pleased sound, closing his eyes for just a moment to savor the touch._

_“How is our little boy?” Thace asks. There is a loud scraping sound of a chair being pulled up and then the view of the camera shifts down as Thace takes a seat._

_“I’m good papa,” Takashi says with a cheerful smile making both Ulaz and Thace laugh._

_“I mean our other little boy,” Thace clarifies, reaching over to ruffle Takashi’s hair._

_“He’s doing alright,” Ulaz replied with a sigh. “Fell asleep a few minutes ago after he chest feed, look.”_

_The camera’s angle shifts up again to give the intended audience a good view of the sleeping infant, skin still pink, hair almost shockingly black. His little fingers were curled limply around Takashi’s outstretched pinkie. His little chest rose and fell slowly, hitching a bit when he hiccuped in his sleep. His nose sort of crinkled up briefly before smoothing out again as he relaxed again._

_“There he is,” Thace murmured, voice growing still and quiet. “Our beautiful Keith.”_

_“He was impatient.” Takashi said in a matter of fact voice. “The nurse said Daddy wasn’t supposed to have him for 3 more weeks and that he was mature!”_

_“She said Keith was premature sweetheart,” Ulaz corrected him gently. “And we’re very lucky he seemed to come out just fine.”_

_“Lucky indeed,” Thace agreed, hand reaching out to stroke Keith’s hair, the golden band on his ring finger glinting in the hospital lights._

_~_

Lance cursed himself as he slammed on the brakes, narrowly avoiding rear ending the white, “My kid is an honor student!” bumper stickered, SUV in front of him. He drummed his fingers impatiently against the steering wheel and somehow managed to resist the temptation to smack his horn in annoyance. If the driver (a mother of 3 from the looks of her stick figure family) had been paying a little more attention they would have made it through that damn green light, but no, apparently playing candy crush in the middle of bumper to bumper traffic was much more important than, oh Lance didn’t know, actually driving? They weren’t even trying to hide it! Lance could literally see the colorful candy grid in their hand. Wasn’t it illegal to use a phone while driving? Lance was pretty sure that was a law somewhere (hey, there were 50 states, he probably wasn’t wrong). And also they were clearly missing that obvious match 4 set of red candies in the bottom left but Lance wasn’t about to help known criminals pass level 409 in candy crush, no sir.

He let out a frustrated huff of air and tried to keep his focus on something other than the fact that if soccer mom Betty didn’t get a move on he was going to be late to his internship. Scratch that, he already was late for his internship, Betty was only making it worse. Lance knew Allura was a forgiving boss (occasionally) but she wouldn’t be too pleased if he showed up past feeding time. They needed all the help they could get right now, especially with the new jellyfish exhibit.

Lance probably had the coolest internship in the entire world. He had (begged) been hand selected to work alongside some of the best (zookeepers) marine researchers in the world at the International Oceanic Institute located in the local Zoo. This meant he was (cleaning fish poop) getting hands on experience that would prepare him for his career in marine biology. He spent the majority of his time learning about and caring for animals he’d only seen through a sheet of glass as a kid. It was kind of a dream come true, Lance wasn’t going to lie. He loved every second he spent measuring shells, weighing jars of water, and testing pH levels.

His best friend Hunk didn’t understand Lance’s fascination with the job, especially when Lance came back to the dorm reeking of fish and covered in algae. A lot of the work Lance did was grunt work, and as Hunk loved to point out, Lance wasn’t exactly getting the best salary. But it wasn’t a salary Lance was looking for, no no, Lance was looking for experience, and this job was giving him more than enough.

“Uh, no,” Hunk had corrected him one night after a long and grueling double shift. “What you’re looking for is Allura.”

“Okay so my boss being hot is kinda a bonus,” Lance waved him away as he peeled off his shirt.

This was very true. Allura was tall with skin like dark chocolate and glittering eyes like a quartz crystal. Her long, platinum hair that fell in ringlets around her perfectly complexioned face. She had long legs and an attractive figure that she kept with a rigorous workout regime. She mentioned once or twice in passing that she’d been a dancer when she was younger, and Lance often wondered why she had stopped. She was still flexible (something she liked to show off some times when they were all joking around) and a killer sense of rhythm. Allura wasn’t just physically attractive though, she was also one of the kindest, generous, and most hilarious people Lance had ever met. Man, if she wasn’t married Lance would probably have asked her out. Or at least, Lance pretty sure she was married. Allura never talked about it, and never went by Mrs. or Miss. She only used 'Ms. Allura' when she had too, but she did have a ring on her finger and had been known to turn away all offers of courtship politely.

“But I didn’t know she was that hot until I after I secured the job. Seriously though, she could be a model.” Lance argued as he wrinkled his nose at the wave of fish odor that passed over him.

Hunk only nodded in agreement and passed him some oxyclean for his shirt.

While Hunk was cautiously satisfied with ‘my reward is experience’, Lance’s other friend, Pidge, was definitely not.

“You’re a starving college sophomore Lance,” Pidge scoffed, glancing over at him from their coding assignment. “You owe me and Hunk at least, like, $30 each, and you know I charge interest. You need a real job.”

Pidge was their age, but could easily pass for a high school freshman mostly because of their height. This was something Lance loved to tease them about.

“But this IS a real job!” Lance would whine. “It’s not exactly easy to do the kind of work I do you know. You’ve literally seen me at work and commented on how it was the first time you’d ever seen me do manual labor like I was some kind of pampered princess.”

Pidge snorted, pushing their round glasses up the bridge of their nose. “Look, Lance you’re going to regret not having a real job sooner or later and don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

Lance was pretty sure he’d never regret this job, but Pidge was unfortunately right about the starving college sophomore and the owing money to his friends (hey, he used to owe Hunk, like, $50 but he’d managed to pay him back last week so suck it Pidge). Regardless, even if he was super broke, he couldn’t get another job that would fit his schedule. As a marine biology major who made the unfortunate mistake of procrastinating on getting his classes scheduled, he had odd hours for lectures. The only place that was flexible enough to let him split up his shifts for his classes was the aquarium, or at least in his experience it was. He hadn’t exactly looked too hard after he was given the job.

Besides, that aquarium meant so much to him. When he was a little boy his mother would pack him and his siblings in the van and drive them into the city for a day trip to the zoo, and every time they would go through the aquarium last. He grew up watching those dolphins cut effortlessly through the water and the sea horses float through their seaweed jungle. That aquarium had inspired him to become a marine biologist, and he loved having the opportunity to give back to it. He didn’t want to find another job.

...But he might have to if he didn’t get there soon. Finally traffic began to move more like syrup and less like dried concrete, and Lance was pulling (or more like swerving dangerously) into the staff parking lot behind the aquarium. He scrambled to find his intern ID and leapt out of his car, barely remembering to lock it as he Naruto ran toward the back entrance.

When he barged into the room he found Allura dressed in her standard work clothes, speaking to a boy who looked to be around Lance’s age. He had black hair- and that was _definitely_ a mullet- and the oddest eyes Lance had ever seen. They were gray, but also not gray. They were gray with flecks of soft blues and purples, like a kaleidoscope, like they couldn’t make a decision about what color to be. There also something else about this boy, a vague sense of familiarity seemed to waft around him, but Lance was dead certain they’d never met before.

“- kay Lance?” Allura called, in a worried voice, snapping his attention back to the present. “Everything alright?”

“Wha- Oh! Sorry,” Lance mumbled, making his way to the storage area. “Just zoned out for a second. We’re starting feeding soon so, uh, I should get back there.”

“I don’t want you on feeding duty today,” Allura said, stopping Lance in his tracks.

Lance pivoted on the foot he’d been standing on, keeping his raised foot up in the air. “I'm sorry, but what?”

“I don’t want you on feeding duty today Lance,” Allura repeated, running her finger down the clipboard. “I want you working with sea turtles, starting with the clutch we rescued yesterday. You can work with Florona.”

“Yes!” Lance pumped his fist, excited to be given the opportunity to work with sea turtles. “Awesome! Thank you Allura, and I won’t let you down.”

Allura smiled, rolling her eyes, then turned her focus back to the boy who had stood there awkwardly during their exchange. “And you like your classes so far?”

Filled with pride and excitement, Lance hurried to pull on his work boots, barely remember to snap a picture of the kid in the vain hope Hunk or Pidge might know him.

~

**bad choices (the thrilling triology)**

lacne (Lance McClain), spunkyboi (Hunk Garrett), pidgeotto (Pidge Gunderson)

_lacne has sent a photo_

lacne: hey do either of u fucks recognize this chick

pidgeotto: lance that is clearly a dude??? wtf

lacne: ummmmmm their hair is longer than urs

pidgeotto: look at him jesus fuck

lacne: okay then HE has a mullet

spunkyboi: e w

spunkyboi: and i cant tell who it is its blurry

spunkyboi: but i dont think we have anyone like that in the engineering program

lacne: kk thks bud

lacne: k pidg its up to u who is this man

pidgeotto: why does it matter???????

lacne: blease

lacne: bell me

pidgeotto: no

lacne: so u DO know who it is

pidgeotto: maybe,,,, maybe not

pidgeotto: i really cant tell who it is

pidgeotto: ur undercover pic taking skills suck

lacne: YouR uNdErcoVeR PIc tAkIng SKIlLs suCK

spunkyboi: nice one lance

~

The Oceanic Institute was more than just an aquarium and research facility, it was also a non-profit rescue and rehabilitation center that focused on preserving some of the world’s oldest and most endangered creatures. Sea turtles, for example, had existed for hundreds of thousands of years. They'd been swimming serenly in the seas right alongside the dinosaurs. They'd endured every single major planetary disaster, and Lance had always thought it would be just awful to watch them die out after having pushed through for so long. The institute didn’t just rescue turtles though. They took in seals, dolphins, octopi, and even sharks. Lance had never had the task of interacting with the rescued creatures beyond feeding them before, so this was a wonderful experience for him.

The turtle room was a large area full of tanks of sea turtles sectioned off by age and condition. Most of the sicker turtles were given their own tank of water, but there were some pools that held multiple ‘patients’. The hatchling pool Lance was starting at had many squirmy turtles waiting to be cared for. They would flap their flippers frantically, slapping his hands as they tried to break out of his grasp.

Florona showed Lance how to track each of the baby's growth with their shells and give them a thorough health examination. He recorded his finding into the charts where she indicated, and once she was sure he was doing a good job on his own, she left him alone to finish up the last of the turtles on his own. He worked in silence, wading into the baby tanks to catch the hatchlings, then taking the measurements for each, before releasing them back in the water and searching for another. Lance wasn’t known for being able to focus this intently on a task that was so repetitive. Usually he lost interest and gave up fairly quickly, but there was something about the sound of water flowing into the tanks, the quiet of the room, and the water that sloshed around his body, that lulled him into a trance like state. He could do this for hours and not lose focus once.

Or at least, he could have if somebody hadn’t interrupted him.

Lance wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he’d finished the hatchlings and had started on the juveniles. Time seemed to slip by him as he worked, not even taking notice of its passing until he heard the door to the turtle room slam shut.

Lance startled at the noise, nearly dropping poor ‘Dirty Dan’. Poor Dan was already suffering from multiple tumors over his belly and eyes, he didn’t need a cracked shell on top of all that.

Lance turned to see who had come in, only to see the boy Allura had been talking too. He was carrying what looked like a notebook under his arm, and his cheeks were flushed with the heat of embarrassment.

Damn, Lance hated to admit it but Mullet Boy was kind of cute.

“S-sorry,” The boy stammered in a quiet voice. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine,” Lance managed as he hefted Dan onto the scale. “That door closes fast and hard, you didn’t know.”

Lance went back to charting Dan’s weight. (He had gained 3 pounds since his last weigh in which was excellent!) He had expected the boy to move on to the next room. He probably wasn’t supposed to be back here now that Lance thought about it. Nobody but authorized personnel were allowed in the back area, especially in the rehabilitation units. He should probably tell the boy that, but eh, the boy had most likely gotten lost trying to find the exit-

And the boy was staring at Lance.

Lance had looked up to find the boy standing just a few feet away from where the desk was, making notes on his pad of paper without giving it so much as a glance.

“What are you doing…?” Lance asked in confusion. “You know, you aren’t allowed back here.”

“Yes I am,” The boy replied, erasing something on the page without even looking down, which was freaky to say the least. “I have special permission from Allura.”

Lance let out a snort. “You expect me to believe that? Allura doesn’t just let strangers waltz around the hospital you know. One time she caught me with Hunk back here, I thought she was going to kill me! I mean, now she knows Hunk so it’s okay but he has to stand near the edge and stuff. She doesn’t want him to break anything, and I don’t want you to either, so how about you get yourself back to the public area?”

The boy frowned, body stiffening. “I know Allura, and she did give me special permission to come back here. If you don’t believe me why don’t you go ask her yourself? She’s in a conference call in her office.”

Lance blanched a bit. The last time he’d interrupted Allura while she was in a call was another one of those many times Lance was almost certain his boss was going to flay him alive. He let out a breath and shook his head.

“No, I’ll take your word for it,” He said begrudgingly, turning back to Dan, who was trying to push himself up over the wall and escape. “Why did she give you permission though?”

“None of your business,” The boy sniffed, looking down at his paper and wrinkling his nose. He quickly ran his eraser over whatever was on the page and began scribbling again.

“You know,” Lance drawled as he smoothed a measuring tape over Dan’s back. “You probably wouldn’t make so many spelling mistakes if you actually looked at your paper.”

The boy scowled. “I’m not writing.”

“Then what are you doing?” Lance asked innocently, hoping this would pry his true intentions out of him.

Clearly the boy wasn’t that stupid. “Like I said, it’s none of your business.”

“Hey, anything that involves these animals is literally my business,” Lance snapped. “I work here bud.”

“Wh- Okay, fine,” The boy grumbled. “I’ll leave you and… why are you writing ‘Dirty Dan’ on that turtle’s shell?”

“That’s his name!” Lance answered, tracing over the faded marks in a bright blue marker. "And how else are we supposed to tell him apart from Pinhead Larry? They look identical except for the tumors, but we don't like to identify turtles purely by their tumors. Isn't that right Danny boy?"

Danny slapped a flipper against the tub, clearly just wanting Lance to get this over with so he could get back to munching on lettuce with Larry. So unappreciative.

“You… you named a sea turtle after a joke in Spongebob?” The boy asked dully, clearly not amused by Lance's antics. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I didn’t name him, Allura did.” Lance corrected, then leaned down to whisper in the turtle’s ear. “Don’t listen to him baby, he’s just jealous of your good looks.”

Dan smacked his face with a flipper, sending Lance reeling backwards as the boy laughed.

“You, mister,” Lance spluttered, pointing a stern finger at Dirty Dan. “Are acting like a turtle who doesn’t want his back scratched.”

Dan only made a disgruntled sound and he raised his head so Lance could see just a sliver of his big brown eyes that were nearly completely covered by tumors, and all of Lance’s resolve evaporated on the spot. He sighed and began to scratch the turtle’s shell. “Okay, okay, I can’t resist a face like that.”

Dan pressed his shell up into Lance's scratching, and it didn't take a turtle whisperer to tell he was enjoy this.

“Wait, he can feel that?” The boy asked, raising an eyebrow. “What about his shell?”

“A turtle’s shell is basically like their spine,” Lance explained, slipping into his 'helpful zoo guide' voice. “It’s made up of bone and cartilage. In the wild they like to swim up under reefs and rub their shells against them. Getting a back scratch feels good to them.”

“Huh,” The boy watched him love on Dirty Dan for a moment.

“Keith?” Allura called from the door. Both the boy and Lance turned to face her as she more or less strutted into the room, somehow making No Slip look like the hottest shoe brand on the market. “Oh! I see you’ve met Lance. Lance is one of our interns. He attends Altea as well, but I believe he’s studying to become a marine biology major, so I’m not sure if you’ve met him before now.”

“Can’t say I have had that pleasure before,” Keith muttered and stuck out his hand tentatively.

Lance peeled his gloves off and shook it stiffly. “Yeah, I’ve never seen your mullet around campus either, which is odd considering how I’m pretty much everywhere and know everyone.”

“Well, congratulations,” Keith replied, voice cool as a could be. “You’ve met somebody you don’t know. Clearly you haven’t been to the honors college, that’s where I take a lot of my classes.”

Okay, now Lance wasn't fucking stupid either. He knew an insult when he heard one. He narrowed his eyes. So, mullet wanted to play that game then? Well, Lance had dealt with more than his fair share of bullies and people who thought they were so smart. Lance knew how to play this game and play it well.

“The honors college?” Lance raised an eyebrow. “I happen to actually do take some of my classes there, so I might not have seen you, but I do have some friends who take all their classes there, wicked smart, genius even, and I’ve never heard them saying anything about a mullet floating around campus.”

“Well Keith is an architecture major, so naturally a lot of his classes are in the honors college since they still need to fix the roof of the arts building.” Allura interjected, her tone flashing a warning to stop whatever rivalry they were trying to start but it was too late for Lance.

“Oh!” Lance said, unable to stop the grin from spreading across his face. “So, you don’t actually take any honors classes? You’re just in the temps?”

Keith’s eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth to snark out some reply but Allura stopped him.

“Lance,” She snapped, voice sharp and threatening. “I think you should put Dan back in his tank now, he’s been out long enough, and Keith, I think you should move on to another section of the aquarium.”

~

**bad choices (the thrilling triology)**

lacne (Lance McClain), spunkyboi (Hunk Garrett), pidgeotto (Pidge Gunderson)

lacne: jklahsljkHARKLJHERJLKWEHRJWLEKHR

lacne: muLLET BOY IS AN ASSHOLE

spunkyboi: who

spunkyboi: oh

spunkyboi: what happened

lacne: so

lacne: this pretentious FcUk

lacne: coms back to the turtle room and proceeds to make fun of diRTY dAn

spunkyboi: what!!! no!!! not dan!!!

pidgeotto: how..,,,,, how daRE HE

pidgeotto: im going to fight him and his mullet

pidgeotto: where is he

pidgeotto: nobody insults dirty dan

lacne: iK

spunkyboi: did he make fun of the tumors??

lacne: no???

lacne: actually he didnt even mention em

lacne: which is kind of weird bc usually thats like

lacne: the first thing people wanna know about

pidgeotto: that and their dick size

lacne: same

lacne: i mean what

lacne: whats a p

lacne: ive never seen a genital in my life

spunkyboi: lance pls

pidgeotto: lance has a turtle kink confirmed

lacne: kjlahljkrehwekljrh

lacne: probably

spunkyboi: l a n c e p l s

lacne: okokjustforubb

spunkyboi: thanksbb

lacne: okay so he made fun of dan, then he like, was all ‘oh i attend the honors college’

lacne: but failed to say that he was only there bc of the arts department caving in a few years ago

pidgeotto: lmao

spunkyboi: did you get his name???

lacne: uhhhhh it was like quiche or somethin

spunkyboi: quiche???????

pidgeotto: lwkjhelrkjwehrjklh

pidgeotto: as funny as that is i wanna know if i have any classes with him

pidgeotto: so i can murder him

lacne: i just told u hes an architecture major

spunkyboi: no you didn’t

spunkyboi: you said he was only in the honors college because of the arts building collapse

pidgeotto: wait… wAIT

pidgeotto: he’s

pidgeotto: I Know Who He Is

lacne:  w  h o

lacne: i need to know

_pidgeotto has sent a photo_

pidgeotto: this guy familiar to u lance

pidgeotto: hes one of my classes

lacne: lJhwklerwehlr

lacne: it h IM

spunkyboi: shit that really is a mullet

lacne: I toLd u sPuNk

pidgeotto: im totally callign him quiche tomorrow in class lkskskskskldljksahf

lacne: burn him pidgeotto roast him to a crisp

pidgeotto: nah we’re just gonna shit talk u

lacne: what

lacne: why?????

pidgeotto: thats keith

pidgeotto: keith kogane

lacne: who

spunkyboi: OH MY GOD THAT KEITH!!!!!!!!!!

spunkyboi: dude its a small world

lacne: somebody explain right n o w

pidgeotto: havent we told you about keith

lacne: no???

lacne: id think i’d remember if u guys told me about a guy with a mullet and a bad attitude

spunkyboi: but we have

spunkyboi: we literally told you like 3 stories about him last week

lacne: i dont believe u

spunkyboi: he’s the kid who wears edgy band t-shirts all the time

spunkyboi: unironically

pidgeotto: we’re talking patd, 21 pilots, fall out boy

lacne: he sounds awful but no i dont remember this

lacne: y’all know my memory is shit

pidgeotto: o h m y g o d

pidgeotto: ur insufferable

lacne: -ly handsome

spunkyboi: im cancelling lance whos with me

pidgeotto: me

lacne: im not

spunkyboi: sorry lance

spunkyboi: best two out of three

pidgeotto: yeah lance sorry

lance: c’mon!!!

pidgeotto: sorry bud i dont make the rules

pidgeotto: now shut up and pick me up a big mac

lacne: u payin

pidgeotto: no bitch im broke

lacne: well guess what so am i

spunkyboi: i’ll pay for everyone tonight

pidgeotto: wow i cant believe hunk saved my life

lacne: !!!!

lacne: i love u hunk!!!

~

Okay, so maybe Lance now owes Hunk somewhere around $35, which is an exorbitant amount when you make next to nothing, but he still isn’t going to get a new job.

~

The next morning Lance kept his eyes peeled for a glimpse of Feisty McMullet in the halls and classrooms of the honors college, but he didn’t see him anywhere. He even kept a lookout for him during his study hour with Pidge in the library, watching the large windows that allowed him to spy on passersby.

“Oh my god, Lance,” Pidge hissed, dropping their pencil and glaring up at Lance irritably. “If you don’t stop craning your neck like a wrung out giraffe every time the door to the library opens I swear to the lord above.”

“Sorry,” Lance mumbled hastily, dropping his gaze down to his biology book and the text he’s supposed to be memorizing about the classification of various corals.

“Besides, if you’re looking for Keith he doesn’t even enter this side of the building for another hour.” Pidge grumbled, scratching out some offending words on the report they were editing. “He has art classes first.”

“Oh… wait wh- I’m not searching for Keith!” Lance protested as his cheeks burned pink.

Pidge cackled and Lance flicked a goldfish at them. They shrieked in surprise and toppled over backwards with a loud _whump._ Their legs stuck straight up in the air and they were still howling with laughter, except this time Lance joined in until the librarian shushed them viciously.

So Lance went his whole day without seeing Keith, not that he was actually hoping to anyways. Keith reminded him of a lot of the jerks Lance spent most of his elementary and middle school years fending off: cocky, condescending, and moronic. They would tease Lance for his acne prone skin, his impulsivity, his weird fascination with the ocean, literally everything and anything Lance did that was out of the norm (which was… pretty much everything) they tormented him for. It wasn’t until he hit that growth spurt in 8th grade and began to tower over the rest of his classmates that he was left alone.

He decided that, as he was clocking in at the zoo, his encounter with Keith was just a one time thing. It wasn’t like Altea University was a mega school with over 40,000 students. Actually Altea was kinda small with just over a thousand kids in Lance’s class, but that was enough for two people to never see each other. He should just put Keith out of his mind and focus on his research paper for biology and making sure the sea turtle had fresh lettuce to eat. Besides, he didn’t want to see Keith anyways, not when he had Allura.

Speaking of Allura, today when he’d arrived at the zoo she’d been waiting for him. It wasn’t the first time he’d walked into the backroom and Allura’s eyes would flick up to him immediately in a way that meant _come in my office and close the door._ His stomach clenched a little bit because usually that look meant Lance was in trouble, but how could he be? He hadn’t done anything bad, at least nothing that he could get caught for doing. He genuinely couldn’t think of a reason he’d be in trouble, which was kind of unusual.

“Hey Allura,” He said nervously as he shut the door behind him. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, everything’s fine.” Allura replied, closing her laptop to give him her full attention. “I just wanted to talk to you, take a seat.”

She gestured to the chair in front of her desk and he hastily pulled it out and sat down.

Allura’s office was what used to be an old tank filtration room. The floor was cold gray cement and it smelled musty. Somehow though, despite the odd stains on the ceiling she’d made it her own. She’d tacked up posters of some of the world’s exotic fish and pictures of the people she kept close to her. Last year she’d put Lance’s first school photo up and he had cried. She’d covered the hard floor with a soft rainbow rug. She’d hung little fairy lights that looked like bubbles around the walls. The soft blue glow was comforting actually when compared to the harsh white light.

“Talk about what?” Lance asked, fiddling with his ID card and bouncing his knee anxiously. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, not in trouble,” She chuckled, setting her pencil down and resting her chin in her hands. “Quite the opposite actually. Since you came back for the school year I’ve noticed that you’ve… changed.”

Lance sat up a little straighter in his chair. “Is this a good change or a bad change?”

“A good one,” She smiled. “A very good one. Both myself and Florona have noticed you’ve been more responsible and more thorough in your work. We’re impressed.”

Lance grinned. This was high praise from Allura, who was usually admonishing Lance for cutting corners when he cleaned out the back area or cut up the food.

“Well, my summer job taught me to be more responsible I guess,” He admitted a little sheepish. “Being in charge of 7 year old makes you a lot more attentive to what you’re doing, y’know?”

“Yes, I do,” She nodded. “I’m proud of you Lance. I’ve decided that if you can continue to show me this improvement I’m going to start putting you out with the public more, starting with today. Go take a look at your schedule.”

That little announcement put Quiche and his bad haircut right out of Lance’s mind. Lance was a people person, though he’d only rarely been able to show it at work. He liked to talk and interact one on one with guests. He loved watching children’s faces light up as he explained how clownfish and anemone rely on each other in the wild, or that yes, you could pet the animals in the touch pool. Zoo visitors seemed to respond positively to his upbeat attitude and he would often end up attracting an entire group of people listening intently as he lectured about why jellyfish can’t be kept in rectangular tanks. Even Pidge, who called Lance annoying to his face at least 3 times a day, would admit that he had a natural charisma he could pull out when he needed to.

Today he was stationed by the dog shark station. It was a liver shaped pool decorated to resemble a mediterranean pool. Smooth beige stones settled in white sand at the bottom in crystal clear waters as soft gray dorsal fins cut a gentle wake through the placid water. Ripples obscured the view of their sleek slender bodies like a textured glass. Part of the pool was sectioned off as a shark rest area. Guarded from grabby hands by tall green stalks (and the careful eyes of Lance) the sharks could take a break from the stress of being touched.

Lance loved the dog sharks for several reasons. He’d grown up with this exhibit and it had been his favorite as a little kid. He could sit for hours just watch the fish glide through the water. There was something graceful about their effortless movement that made him stare in awe. It was almost as if they water wasn’t even there. As a little kid he’d wanted to learn how to swim like that and had joined a local swim team. Now here he was, 15 years later, attending college on a swimming scholarship. Literally these sharks put him through college.

“Nonono-” Lance quickly pulled a five year old back from the edge of the tank before he could topple in. “Don’t lean over like that, here, let me give you a boost.”

He hoisted the little boy up so he could better set his fingers into the water. A dog shark swam past, grazing the boy’s fingertips. The boy giggled in delight.

“Mommy!” The boy squealed excitedly. “I’m petting a shark! Look!”

Lance chuckled and set the boy back down so he could run towards a woman pushing a stroller.

“So, you encourage small children to pet sharks.” Drawled a familiar voice.

Lance let out a loud groan and turned to see the sullen face of quiche. Today he was wearing a red jacket that was tied around the waist, a My Chemical Romance t-shirt (what the fuck), and a pair of black skinny jeans (also what the fuck because somebody so petite shouldn’t look so hot in skinny jeans this wasn’t _fair_ ). His arms were folded over his chest, guarding the same note book he’d been scribbling in yesterday.

“And what do you want?” Lance snapped, narrowing his eyebrows.

Quiche stiffened and averted his eyes. “Sorry, I guess that came out ruder than I meant it to.”

“Yeah, well, a lot of things you say seem to come out ruder than you meant them too.” Lance grumbled, folding his arms over his chest defensively. “Look, I’m kind of busy right now, so if you don’t have anything you need help with I kind of need to get back to work.”

“I actually do need help,” Quiche said awkwardly, eyes shifting to look at the display on dog sharks, still not looking at Lance. “Allura is too busy and… and she said you’d be the best person to ask.”

That made Lance perk up a bit. Had Allura really said that?

“Well,” Lance practically hummed with pride, his chest puffing up just a bit. “I did grow up at this aquarium more or less. I actually worked here all throughout high school, mostly in the back though. I would even work in the summer! Well, not that much last summer, last summer I was a camp counselor, but I came back to work here when I could. But now that I’m back in college I’m an intern again, but it’s super fun because Allura now trusts me to handle more jobs than just ‘cut up the food’ and ‘scrub the turtle tanks’. Anyways, yeah, if you wanted to know anything about the aquarium I can tell you.”

Quiche let out a huff of air, tucking a few strands of his black hair behind his ear.

_Cute._

_Wait, Quiche was so not cute, especially not with that shirt._

_Edgy._

_Yeah, edgy was the word Lance was looking for._

Quiche opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Lance.

“WAIT.” Lance screeched. “What exactly do you need this for? You wouldn’t tell me why yesterday. If you want your questions answered you have to tell me why.”

Quiche scowled, eyebrow twitching irritably. “Does it matter?”

“Does it matter- Of course it matters!” Lance said, putting his hands on his hips. “Some of my information is top secret bud. I can’t just blab it all and then have you go running to another aquarium and spill out all our secrets!”

“What the-” Keith let out an exasperated sound. “That’s the most convoluted thing I’ve ever heard Lance.”

“Have you listened to your mullet recently?” Lance replied. “It’s pretty damn convoluted too.”

“Oh my God!” Keith groaned, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “Fine, whatever. I’ll leave you alone if you’re going to be that much of an asshole. I just wanted to ask a few questions about the sharks. Jesus fuck.”

“Wait, the sharks?” Lance stopped. He knew everything about these sharks, and he hated to miss an opportunity to show off his knowledge. “Just these sharks? You won’t betray our secrets to the Shedd Aquarium or anything?”

“I’m not a spy if that’s what you’re asking.” Keith grumbled, rolling his eyes. “I’m an architecture major, and our final this semester is to design the renovations for this aquarium. Since this exhibit is here on the main floor it might get disturbed in my plans, so I want to make sure I don’t design something that would hurt the animals or something… you know.”

Lance felt his resolve melt like butter in the microwave. Damn… _damn…_

“Okay, fine,” Lance sighed, sitting down on one of the fake rocks Allura had instructed him not to sit down on multiple occasions. “Hit me with your best shot.”

~

**bad choices (the thrilling triology)**

lacne: so

lacne: quiche came back today

spunkyboi: you mean keith?

pidgeotto: keith who???? i only know quiche

spunkyboi: ok i guess he’s quiche now

pidgeotto: anyway what did quiche do

lacne: uhhh asked a lot of questions about the dog shark exhibit

lacne: like the dimensions and how the sharks are affected by temperature

spunkyboi: did he tell you why?

lacne: yeah

lacne: his architecture final is to design at the renovations for the aquarium and he wanted to ask questions about some of the tnaks and shit

spunkyboi: oh

spunkyboi: that makes sense

pidgeotto: i was wondering why coran had those aquarium blueprints on his desk

lacne: y r u in corans room

pidgeotto: bc graphic design is my passion

spunkyboi: i HATE that just reading that sentence puts that image in my mind

lacne: GRAPHIC DESIGN IS MY PASSION

~


	2. Pinhead Larry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you can't tell im giving all the chapters names after turtles in the aquarium  
> also i havent really been writing as much as i should so thats why this took so long  
> also this chapter is dedicated to @ace-paladin on tumblr who won my 1k follower giveaway and chose this fic for me to update!! if you follow me on tumblr @lancetellations you'll get me one closer to 2k followers which means another giveaway!!!

The next day Keith came, Allura had put Lance on visitor duty in the Sting Ray room, even though they had plenty of other staff members already doing it. Besides, the Sting Ray room wasn’t exactly there most popular exhibit. Most people only spent 5 or 6 minutes soaking in the swooping creatures before moving on after realizing there wasn’t much else to do. At first Lance had been confused why he hadn’t put in a more heavily trafficked area, like the dolphins, but then Keith showed up. 

Keith, with his horrible hair and messy sketchbook and weird anime jacket. 

Keith, asking Lance yet again to give him specifics on the aquarium’s filters. 

And Lance helped him out, but only after his partner most helpfully pointed out that he literally had nothing better to do. 

So that was how Lance ended up being paid to stand in the grimy back room behind the ray tank and explain all the different filters while Keith sat at the old desk and took notes. 

“No, no,” Lance said, yanking the pencil out of Keith’s hand to prevent him from making a grave mistake. “You can’t put that there. It’ll flood the entire back area!”

“Hey!” Keith reached to snatch his pencil back from Lance, but Lance held it high above him. “Give that back!”

“Are you going to break our filters and pay $60,000 for new ones?” Lance inquired, raising an eyebrow. 

“I’m not actually putting anything anywhere,” Keith huffed, finally managing to reclaim his pencil. “It’s just a drawing, it’s not set in stone.”

“Yes but it’s a basis for what literally will be set in stone,” Lance pointed out, putting his hands on his hips. “What if you forget to move it and then your plan gets picked and then the builders actually put it up and then it ruins the aquarium? Do you know how many lives would be lost?”

“They’re fish Lance.” Keith said in exasperation. “They’re just fish.”

Lance let out a gasp of genuine horror. “They may be just fish to you but they are literally my livelihood!”

“Okay, fine.” Keith huffed, haphazardly erasing his notes and making corrections. Then he shoved his notebook into Lance’s face unceremoniously. “Does that look acceptable to you?”

Lance took it and studied it carefully before grudgingly handing it back. “It’ll do, but I’d get more tubing for the main system.”

Keith just closed his notebook and slipped it into his bag. "I'll keep that in mind for your... livelihood."  


The door to the backroom opened and Allura stepped in. “Ah, there you are Keith,”

“I was just leaving,” He mumbled, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. 

“Good,” She smiled, handing him her cell phone. “Because your father called and you apparently forgot to call him after class today. He was worried since you always call him then.”

Lance barely read the name ‘Kogane’ as the phone switched hands.

Where had he heard that name before...

Keith accepted the phone with a curt nod and shimmied through the narrow space remaining in the doorway and out of sight. 

“Isn’t he in college?” Lance asked dully, finishing up the final meter recordings. 

“Yes,” Allura confirmed, keeping her eyes on Keith’s figure as he climbed up the stairs. “He attends Altea with you, we’ve already gone through this Lance.”

“Yeah,” Lance clicked the pen and slipped it into the desk. “But like, who calls their parents daily?”

“A lot of people,” She replied, taking the binder he offered her so she could check over his work. “And his parents worry a lot about him, he’s the youngest after all.”

“You’ve never really explained your relation to him you know.” Lance said, watching her face as she scanned over his notes. “It’s not like you to just let somebody tour the back areas of the aquarium just for a project.”

Allura pressed her lips together thinly as she snapped the binder shut. “You could say I’m just a close family friend.”

And without another word she whisked away back up to her office, which Lance took as a sign that his work had been at the very least satisfactory. 

*

There was something familiar about Keith, but Lance just couldn't put his finger on it. Lance always got this feeling of deja vu around him, like he'd done this a thousand times before. The weird thing was it wasn't exactly an unpleasant feeling. In fact, Lance really liked it. Even if Keith was surly at best and downright mean at worst, Lance liked being around him, and that was the annoying part. 

Lance was annoyed that he liked being around Keith so much. It was straight up irritating because he had no idea why. Had they been lab partners and Lance had just forgotten? Had they gone to the same school or something? How did he know Keith?

Lance’s fingers hovered over the keys of his laptop. He knew it was stupid, petty even, to be prying into somebody’s life like this, but Lance needed to know what the hell was going on, and with google and a full name at his disposal, he was finally going to find out. But not even 100% justified curiosity could completely block out the twinge of guilt he felt as he pressed the first K. 

*

On the fourth day, after Allura  ordered asked him to, he gave Keith the grand tour of the first floor, going into great detail about every creature and their preferred environments and even a few of their personalities. Lance did enjoy this, just a little bit, because he was granted all the time in the world (or at least until closing) to ramble on to his heart’s content about his favorite things in the whole wide world. Meanwhile Keith, who was recording the conversation on a device, made side notes and barely spoke to Lance at all. 

What an improvement. 

Once the tour was finished Allura told him to go on break, and for some bizarre reason Keith decided to follow him. He was sitting across from Lance, working away in his notebook quietly as Lance nibbled on a bagel. 

“So,” Lance said. “Are you going to come here every day or something?”

“Maybe,” Keith grunted in response. 

“Then why are you the only architecture major I see here?” Lance inquired. “If this really is your final grade, why aren’t there more of you swarming around?”

“Because the professor gave everyone blueprints,” Keith replied lightly, still not lifting his eyes from the page. 

“If he gave you all blueprints,” Lance continued. “Why are you even here?”

“Because I’d rather get my information about everything directly from the source,” Keith said, finally pausing to glance up at Lance. “Prevents me from making errors. Besides, I don’t like upsetting Allura.”

“What do you mean upsetting Allura?” Lance asked in confusion, but this time Keith didn’t respond, didn’t even react to Lance’s words.. He just kept working away in his notebook. 

So he was playing that kind of game, fine. Lance had cracked way harder eggs than McMullet before. 

“How do you know Allura?” He asked, trying to be casual. “You a donor’s kid or something?”

Keith glance up and him and narrowed his eyes. “What makes you think I’m a ‘donor’s kid’?”

“Well, Allura doesn’t just let any college student traipse around back here for an art final.” Lance explained, licking some cream cheese from his fingers. “And if you have enough money to attend Altea I’m going to assume you’re relatively well off.”

Keith snorted. “Ever heard of a scholarship Lance?”

“I most certainly have, mullet.” Lance huffed. “I’ll have you know that I’m attending on a full ride.”

“Sports doesn’t count.” Keith snapped, shading in a section of his plans.

“They do too!” Lance replied. “I’ve got a full ride for swimming.”

“Well, congratulations.” Keith grumbled. “I’m glad your ability to not drown can take away from people who actually earn their aid money.”

“I did earn my money!” Lance hissed. “I swam for hours both before and after school for years. I worked my ass off to become the best I could be just so I could get into a good school. Mommy and daddy don’t pave the way for everyone you know,  _ Kogane _ . My parents didn’t pay to replace the roof when I was flunking out.”

_ Wham. _

The next think Lance knew he was on his ass, clutching his jaw and tasting blood in his mouth. He blinked through the pain and shock to look blearily up at Keith who was on his feet and  _ fuming.  _

“What the hell was that for?!” Lance spluttered.

Keith snatched up his notebook and left the staff room without another word to Lance. 

*

Saturday was Lance’s day off, and god did he need it. They weren’t very far into the new school year and already Lance’s teachers were throwing homework at him like darts. Fortunately Lance had managed to develop some study skills since high school, and even with his job at the Aquarium, he was managing to scrape by somehow. Today though he was determined to put all thoughts of school out of his mind with a day trip to the beach near their dorm. 

Unlike most of their classmates, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk had decided to spend their extended weekend together savoring the luxury of an almost completely deserted college campus. They didn’t have to fight the way through the dorm halls or wait a ridiculous amount of time to use the showers or have to share their beach with anyone else. For Pidge, who swam in aquatic chest binders, Hunk, who was just an anxiety riddled mess 90% of the time especially when he was exposed, and Lance, who had that nasty burn scar on his back, it was a blessing. 

The usual chills of September held no power over them today. The sun was still beating down on their little college town till it peaked in the nineties. They’d spent the early hours of the morning of their labor day weekend enjoying the nearly empty beach. They boogie boarded on the waves and held a sand castle building contest (which Hunk won of course) and splashed each other until their skin was all pruny. It was only when Pidge’s shoulders began to glow pink that Hunk forced them all to come in to eat lunch, and in Pidge’s case, smother their body in a thick layer of aloe vera.

“I told you to reapply every two hours!” Hunk scolded them as they worked the soothing ooze into Pidge’s poor sun burnt skin. 

“I don’t like taking off my top just to apply banana boat.” Pidge hunched over, folding their arms over their chest. “And you guys don’t have to reapply every 2 hours, it’s not fair.”

“Safety over comfort Pidge,” Lance reminded them teasingly as he worked on their legs. “Plus Hunk and I actually have more melanin, we don’t need it.”

“Um,” Hunk interjected nervously, biting his lip. “Actually Lance, we do especially if any of us were to have a history of skin cancer in our family, remember health class? Remember all those sad stories they told us about 15 year olds who tanned and died? You don’t want skin cancer Lance!”

“Those were people who used tanning beds, like, daily Hunk.” Lance reminded him, squirting out another big dollop unto his hands. 

“And?” Hunk said. “They still died Lance.”

Lance only sighed and kept rubbing aloe vera onto Pidge’s sun fried skin. Arguing with Hunk about this would be useless, he’d been a mother hen for as long as Lance had known him which was a long ass time. Hunk and Lance had literally grown up together and had been friends since they were in diapers. It was kind of a happy accident they’d both gotten accepted to Altea University. Lance had known Hunk would get in no problem, the guy was a genius, but Altea had always been a reach school for Lance. Actually a lot of schools had been reach schools for him, especially after the absolute shit his grades took in junior year, but he’d made it out alright in the end. He definitely hadn’t expected to make it in, that was for sure, but he was extremely grateful he did. He was even more grateful to have met Pidge in his freshman English and Composition class. 

Pidge Gunderson was one of the oddest people Lance had ever had the pleasure of meeting. They were ‘vertically challenged’ especially when compared to Hunk or Lance’s own towering height, but what they lacked in size they made up for in confidence and attitude. They had a sharp tongue and an even sharper mind. Beyond their intimidating exterior though, they were secretly the biggest nerd Lance had ever met, and again, he’d known Hunk all his life. Pidge was an avid pokemon player and a really good one too. Lance had yet to find a team that could beat Pidge’s in an online battle.

Lance’s main friend purely consisted of Pidge and Hunk. He had other friends, sure, but for the most part he just preferred spending time with them above literally everyone else. They just got him in a way most other people just… didn’t. Lance would much rather have a small group of close friends he could be himself with than be the most popular guy on campus with a fake personality. 

“I think we should head in soon Lance,” Hunk said after he looked up at the sky, pointing to the dark clouds that were starting to cover the sun. “I think it’s gonna rain.”

“Yeah it’s definitely gonna rain,” Pidge confirmed as they scrolled through their phone’s weather app and popped gold fish into their mouth. “There’s a big thunderstorm coming.”

“That’s blatant homophobia.” Lance grumbled, flopping back onto his towel. “I’m gonna make a callout post for it.”

“You do that buddy.” Pidge snorted, flicking a goldfish at them. “Anyways, how’s work going?”

“Pretty good,” Lance replied, eating the cracker. “Allura’s letting me go out on the floor more and interact with visitors as a guide. Something about me being more responsible and stuff.”

“That’s awesome man!” Hunk grinned, wrestling with their hamper. Lance bent down and helped him unfasten the locking mechanism. “How’s Dirty Dan?”

“He’s good,” Lance replied, helping gather up their beach stuff, glaring at Pidge until they finally joined in. “He’s having surgery to remove the tumors around his eyes on Wednesday, but all his other tumors are shrinking with this new medication he’s on. We might actually get to release him in time for the new year! Here, let me pull up a picture of him on my phone.”

“I’m so proud of him,” Pidge announced with a grin as she looked at Lance’s newest Dan picture. 

“My son is growing up so fast.” Hunk sniffled, wiping his eyes with his thumb. 

Lance chuckled, slipping his phone into his backpack. 

The fact that Dirty Dan was doing so well was an amazing piece of news for the sea turtle rescue community. One of the newest and most dangerous threats facing sea turtles was a virus called Fibropapillomatosis, or FP for short. The virus resembled the herpes virus in humans and caused large tumors to grow on the turtle’s body. Though the tumors themselves were usually benign in nature, their growth could cause serious problems for turtles later on. They could grow large enough to affect a turtle’s ability to swim, breathe, swallow, and see. They could also lead to other more severe issues such as anemia and acidosis. For juvenile turtles, like Dan, they could prove to be fatal which is why the team was so excited about this new treatment working. If they could heal these tumors with a way that was faster and more effective than surgery then they could release and rescue more turtles. 

“So,” Pidge said slyly as they hefted their own backpack over the shoulder, wincing a little bit as the fabric brushed over their sunburned skin. “How’s Keith?”

“What do you mean ‘how’s Keith’?” Lance scowled, shoving his hands in his pocket. 

“We know he comes into the zoo every day now.” Pidge rolled their eyes. “We’re not morons.”

“Yeah,” Hunk agreed. “Every time you come into the dorm grumbling about mullets and bad manners. Especially Last night.”

“Oh yeah,” Pidge agreed. “What happened yesterday? You came in like a hurricane, steaming and stomping.”

“You weren’t even there!” Lance scoffed, feeling his ears burn. 

“Hunk was,” Pidge shrugged. “And he told me all about it.”

Hunk nodded. “I was really worried because you wouldn’t talk about it. You just hopped onto the couch, popped in Overwatch, and went to town. That’s really not like you Lance, usually you rant first.”

Lance stiffened a little bit at that comment. He hadn’t told his friends about how Keith slugged him or the argument that lead to it. It was actually kind of embarrassing to admit that he’d gotten his ass handed to him on a silver platter by a mullet head, and in hindsight what he’d said to Keith wouldn’t put Lance in any better of a light to his friends. 

“Well,” Lance huffed. “His mullet is stupid and his manners  _ are  _ atrocious. I can complain if I want to.”

Hunk and Pidge exchanged a look, but clearly and silently communicated that it would be best if they just dropped the issue. Lance was usually upfront about what was bothering him, and on the rare occasions he wasn’t it would probably pop out later so there wasn’t any use in trying to pry it out of him.

“Did you find out why he keeps coming?” Pidge asked as they scanned their Pokemon Go app. 

“It’s for a dumb architecture project, I already told you, remember?” Lance grumbled, kicking the sand. “They have to come up with a design for the aquarium’s renovations. It’s for his final.”

“It’s not even midterm yet and Coran’s already assign them a final project?” Hunk asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“It’s not like it’s an easy task,” Lance said, remembering how concerned Keith was with the inner workings of the pipes and tanks, designing elements around them so they could preserve their habitats. “He has to be careful not to disturb anything too important with the plumbing and stuff.”

“So that’s why he keeps bothering you,” Pidge grinned. “Because you’ve been punished with pipe duty so much you could probably map out the entire pump system with your toes holding the pen.”

Lance grumbled again because, of course, they were right. 

Especially when he was younger and more impulsive, Lance had gotten in a lot of trouble at the aquarium. He never did anything that put any person or animal in danger, at least he didn’t usually anyways, but he screwed up enough to be forced to spend a big chunk of his time doing pump maintenance. When they got new employees Allura usually asked Lance to do the honors of showing them how to clean out the filters and take water readings. Official pipeman, that was Lance. 

“Okay, enough about work,” Lance announced. “I’m putting a blacklist on all things related to Keith and the aquarium. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Like all the homework you have to finish?” Pidge smirked. 

“Ooo!” Hunk exclaimed. “Or that test you were worried about?”

“And I’m blacklisting those too,” Lance said quickly. “Let’s talk about fun things, like… like…” 

Lance searched around desperately for a ‘fun thing’ to talk about, but his traitorous mind went completely blank. 

“Thought so,” Pidge snickered and skipped ahead of them towards the car. 

*

The weather changed drastically that afternoon. Instead of warm sunshine and a gentle breeze thunder boomed in fear as lightning cracked its wretched whip. Rain pounded down against their dorm room window panes, as if it was asking desperately to be let inside, but the occupants gave it no quarter. 

Lance had found a channel with a Harry Potter marathon and the trio were watching it together bundled under snuggies and nestled into bean bags. They had stayed up late together playing dumb board games after deciding that they could hide Pidge under Lance’s bed if the RA came around to check on them, which meant they were having a sleepover. It was good to take a break like this and just enjoy the company of good friends, and Hunk and Pidge were great friends. Lance’s stomach was always aching from laughing so hard with them. They made him forget about the stress of college and issues back home. 

Today had been a good day, he decided as he was dozing somewhere between being awake and asleep. He’d passed out somewhere around number 3, and now they were half way through number 6. Outside the storm still lingered, though diminished in its fury. It’s howl was more a hoarse yell and the droplets were now a tired heavy stream, as if the riot had become more an obligated strike over something really irrelevant. 

Lance had been just about to drop back into a deeper doze when he heard something rattle against his face. He slapped his hand around until he found his phone, fully charged from a portable battery and buzzing. It took his vision a moment to clear as he was a little blinded from the sudden light, but finally his brain processed the words ‘Boss Lady Allura’ on his screen. 

Why the hell was Allura calling him at 3 in the morning? 

He was tempted to just let it go to voicemail, but loyalty got the better of him and he clicked the green button. 

“Hello?” He mumbled, sleep still fogging his brain.

“Oh thank god,” Allura breathed, her voice full of relief. “I was beginning to think nobody would pick up.”

“It’s 3 in the goddamn morning,” Lance yawned, sitting up and letting his blanket fall away. “Of course nobody is going to respond. What’s going on? Do you need me?”

“I just got a distress call,” Allura replied, tone slipping right back to business as usual. “It’s a sea turtle, netting wrapped around his neck, and he’s massive. Washed up from the rocky seas on the beach. I need some help.”

That woke Lance up like a loud smack in the face. He was on his feet, shaking sleep from his limbs and reaching for his coat. 

“Send me your location and I’ll be there as fast as I can.” He said as he shimmied into his work boots. “And text me anything else you’re gonna need.”

Oh the things Lance would do for a turtle. 

*

Lance loved sea turtles, he loved them enough to drive through horrible storms at three in the morning dressed in nothing but sweat pants, an old camp shirt, and a raincoat for them. He reminded himself of all the reasons why as he swerved to avoid a fallen tree branch in the middle of the freeway. 

Lance loved sea turtles because they were old, ancient creatures. They had existed on this Earth for over 200 million years, and when Lance looked into their eyes he always felt like he could see it. They were gentle creatures too, big and slow and graceful. He never felt more peaceful than when he was working with his turtles, and peace wasn’t a feeling that came easily to Lance. 

Maybe that’s why he would do just about anything for a sea turtle. 

He finally pulled into the parking lot and grab a pair of bolt cutters and gloves. He spotted Allura through the rain, her figure illuminated from a dying flashlight. There was another smaller person who was working to spread a tarp covered sled out for transport, but Lance couldn’t make it out who it was from here. 

He jogged over to the pair, shielding his eyes with a hand. When he got closer he focused his attention more on the large turtle that lay listless in the sand, thick netting surrounding it.

“Yeesh,” Lance managed as he knelt down. He clicked on his pocket flashlight, brightening up the scene. 

“We got a call an hour ago from a drunk party goer who found her while he was doing a dare.” Allura had to yell to get over the noise of the wind and the thunder and the sea. “She’s about 200 pounds, definitely a sea green, barely responding to stimuli. I think she might have been attacked by a shark after getting stuck in this.”

“Should we cut it away?” Lance asked, aiming his beam to get a better look at the thick cords wrapped tight around her neck. The skin around it had become infected, bubbling up pussy and crusted around the wound. Lance briefly allowed his beam to travel down the rest of the turtle’s body and regretted it. She was a beat up babe. There were several tumors covering her shell and flippers, topped off with bloody bite marks. 

“I want to loosen it at the very least,” Allura nodded. “But I don’t want to waste too much time here. Plaxum is back at the aquarium setting up medical treatment for her. Keith has already set up the ramp.”

“Keith?!” Lance spluttered, looking over at the third person. 

Sure enough Keith blinked at him, face soaking wet and a damp mullet peeking out from his hood.

“I couldn’t get anyone else,” Allura shot back. “Get to work on those nets or I will fire you.”

Lance held the flashlight in between his teeth so he could have two hands for this. Allura placed her hands firmly on the turtles sides and instructed Keith to do the same. Often times turtles got wiggly when sharp objects were being wielded near their face and had to be held down. This one didn’t seem to even notice though when Lance hooked the bolt cutter underneath the first length of rope. 

Allura’s coos of sympathy for the turtle were barely audible to Lance over the wind. He worked carefully, slowly snipping away at the bands and unwinding them with care. The netting had also ensnared some of her flippers, but

right now he just wanted to make sure she could breathe, handling her skull delicately. He didn’t want to hurt this big girl more than she already had been. He’d managed to clip away the worst of it from her neck, but the more rope that was shed the more he could see just how bad of shape she was in. 

Lance loved sea turtles, but he hated humans. If there were no humans there would be way more sea turtles in the oceans. Scientists could twist their words and blame biological components and algae, but the simple fact was human impact killed more sea turtles than anything else ever would. Turtles go hit by human boats, stuck in human nets, infected around human inhabited areas, choked on human made trash, and he hated that very few people seemed to care at all. 

After a few minutes Allura reached out and tapped his wrist, signalling that it was time to load her into the van. He was glad to have an excuse to slip the cutters into the bin along with the cut ropes. For a few minutes he was able to push the thought of all that away from him as they worked to settle the turtle onto the tarp. It wasn’t an easy task. The poor girl was a good 200 pounds of dead weight which made it a struggle to drag the tarp across the wet sand. Her shell was slick from the rain too, which made it that much harder to lift her into the back of Allura’s ‘Turtle Ambulance’, but once she was loaded in something seemed to loosen in Lance’s chest. Half the battle of this rescue was just getting the poor girl to safety. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's not a klance fic until one of them puNChes the other. sorry i dont make the rules.   
> and yes, lance found out something on the internet but im not revealing exactly what so HA. you have to wait. suspense.   
> this fic was a bit under 5k, but since i was at 6k last chapter im letting it slide. also yes, i took like 2 months to update, writing has been a struggle for me lately lmao. anyways, you can check my progress on my tumblr account. i use the tag 'aooy' for this fic, and i like to keep thinks  
> also, i'd like to get up to a regular posting schedule!! maybe once a week? im gonna try... i really am... but i make no promises. i know today is wednesday, so tentatively that's when i'll update? add a day or two to make room for school and all my side projects (there's a lot of them), but wednesdays... yes.  
> brave new world kiddos... im... im working on it... last few chapters... they're coming

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter was over 6,000 words don't expect that for every chapter though. usually i write 5,000 words a chapter but idk man this one was calling me and i had to extend it.  
> special thanks to elena, elliTHOT, ana, ana #2, olivia, and everyone else for beta reading sorry i cant get your names kids ill put em later <3  
> pls give me comments!!!! consuming fan works without leaving comments/kudos kills fandoms bc comments give us motivation to keep writing. i genuinely cant fucking write if i dont get comments because i dont feel like people appreciate my writing. even a little heart emoji means so much?? i once had somebody put a 'subscribed' and i started crying lmao.


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